“Back off.”
Graham awkwardly straightened, and Jennifer reluctantly let go of his hair. She, too, rose to her feet, totally comfortable in her own skin, fully aware of how perfect her form and face was.
“Excuse me?” Jennifer arched a perfectly plucked brow and directed a disdainful stare toward Kennedy.
Graham felt frozen in place at the look on Kennedy’s face and in her eyes.
“Back off. You are breaking protocol,” she stated flatly, never taking her eyes from Jennifer’s.
“And you are?” came Jennifer’s haughty response, although a slight note of uncertainty colored it.
Kennedy ignored Jennifer’s request for an introduction. “Subs don’t throw themselves at house Doms. Your behavior is grounds for a suspension of your membership.”
Jennifer flushed. “I apologize. Graham and I…”
Kennedy cut her off. “I don’t need to hear your excuses. Go back to Master Jordan or leave. Your choice.”
Jennifer was red with fury but nodded brusquely. She turned and rushed to the dressing area.
“Honey,” Graham began.
“Not now, Graham,” Kennedy replied. “I need to make sure your little bunny gets gone.”
Graham watched his woman stride away. Fuck, this so wasn’t going to be fun later. He should be furious with her. It was his role to deal with Jennifer. He was the Dom. He felt like he had been overlooked in the strange little event that had played out and had been talked about like he wasn’t there. Much like he and other Doms discussed a sub in front of him or her. It put a person in their place, established the power ratio, and was really kind of hot. Was he a fucking switch? Nope, just in awe of Kennedy. He could have dealt with Jennifer, but it would have gotten ugly and uncomfortable because she wasn’t going to let him push her away without a fight. Kennedy had known just what to do, if stepping out of her PA role somewhat. But not really. He did wish, though, that she had told Jennifer that she was his, that Kennedy belonged to him. But Kennedy wouldn’t dignify Jennifer with any response. Good for her. Not so good for him later. He sighed and went to the cross room where Clark and Jeanette awaited. Jeanette wanted to move up to the double tail tonight, and Clark was a bit of a pain slut, so he would really need to focus.
* * * *
Jennifer pulled her clothes on angrily, ignoring Kennedy, who stood inside the door of the dressing area, staring just over her head. Kennedy knew she had a great poker face, but she was seething inside. There was no way blondie was going to see her emotional upheaval. Kennedy knew people like blondie. They were like leeches, only with teeth, who wanted what they wanted and didn’t give a shit about anyone other than themselves. If anyone gave them a hint of something, they took advantage, and they ran with it. Kennedy wanted this woman gone so that she could unwind and be ready for Graham later tonight. He has some ’splaining to do, she thought.
Jennifer pushed past her and headed for the main door of the club. “I’ll be talking with Patrick. Believe it,” she snarled. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ll be in shit.”
Kennedy said quietly, “I’m Kennedy Johnson. Patrick’s PA.”
Jennifer’s mouth opened and closed, but she didn’t respond. The doorman opened up, and Jennifer shook her head to his offer of having her car brought around. Kennedy waited until the door shut behind her, then went back to her office. Blondie was competition. Well, bring it on. Kennedy wasn’t going to let Graham go unless he wanted out, and he would have to be pretty convincing.
* * * *
Graham eased into their quarters just as dawn broke. He had worked hard all night and keeping focused had exhausted him. He wanted to talk with Kennedy, but she hadn’t sought him out, probably because she knew how busy the three Doms were. Kennedy took her duties seriously, and he appreciated that while there would never be a good time or place for the conversation they needed to have, messing up the night’s scenes would have created chaos. He showered quickly and toweled off, then he slipped into bed beside Kennedy. He never brought another woman’s scent to their bed. A dim light was burning in the corner. Kennedy sometimes had nightmares even now, and she didn’t turn it out until he joined her.
“Honey?” he asked softly, pressing a kiss on her forehead.
“How tired are you, Graham?” she asked quietly.
“I’m beat, but I know we need to talk,” he responded.
“I’m a little pissed, Graham, no, make that hurt,” Kennedy replied.
Graham winced. That was his girl. No pretense, tell it like it is, Kennedy.
“Do you want me to tell you now, honey, or wait until we wake up?”
“You’re off tomorrow night,” Kennedy stated. When he stiffened, she added, “I rearranged the shifts, Graham, with Patrick’s consent. I knew you would be tired, and I’ve had time to settle down. I don’t want to fight with you, babe, so let’s get some rest, and we’ll take this up later and for however long it takes.”
Kennedy rolled over and gave him her back. Graham cursed his reticence to tell her earlier about Jennifer. Stupid move on his part. Now there would be a full explanation and a visit to the past he would prefer not to make. But he knew that Kennedy would expect full disclosure, and if he didn’t come across, it would hurt their relationship. It might anyhow. Graham reached around her waist and snuggled her close, relieved when she didn’t stiffen or protest. He should know better than to think she would react like most women would have, in his experience. All the same, most women could have been put in their place and would back off. Graham wondered how much sleep he would get now, with tomorrow looming before him. Kennedy was already making those cute little huffing sounds that signified she was deep in dreamland. He sighed and resolutely closed his eyes and waited for her to wake.
“Graham.”
Graham rolled his eyelids up a fraction and flinched at the bright sunlight flooding the room. God, he had slept after all. But what the hell time was it?
“C’mon, Graham, get up,” Kennedy insisted. “Blondie is in Patrick’s office and insists on seeing you. She has some sort of court document, and Patrick thinks you had better get up there.” Her voice was controlled, but he heard an inflection of considerable anxiety.
Graham rolled to his feet and sat right back down. He had had maybe two hours of rest, and those had been full of strange dreams. He felt disoriented and hardly ready to face Jennifer. He didn’t know what the hell was going on but was pretty concerned, although he worked hard at not letting it show.
“I’ve put some clothes out for you, Graham, so haul ass and make yourself presentable.” With that, Kennedy left the room.
When Graham got to Patrick’s office, Kennedy was already there, gathering up various files and generally looking her usual professional self. She wore the club uniform of black and white, although in her case the bottom half was a slim skirt over stilettos. Jennifer was lounging on a chair in the corner, alternately smiling sweetly at Patrick and throwing nasty looks in Kennedy’s direction. Shit, should he ask Kennedy and Patrick to leave? Stay? One of them to leave? Graham wasn’t a coward except when it came to messy emotional scenes. His mother had cornered the market on those, and he still cringed to remember how he had felt as a child. He was hardly a kid now, but this was shaping up to be one of those moments.
“Graham,” Jennifer said, softly and seductively. “I apologize for surprising you last night. I know how you hate surprises. I should have remembered. I have something important to tell you and thought I could ease into it by doing a scene with you. You know, something familiar. I missed us.”
Graham felt Kennedy tense a little, but her response wouldn’t be obvious to anyone but him. He had to deal with Jennifer quickly.
“There won’t be any more scenes with you, Jennifer,” he stated offhandedly. “If you have something to tell me, then get on with it.”
Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. “I’d prefer to do it in private, Gray,” she pouted.
“You came to Patrick,
so I assume he has no problem being here for whatever you have to say.”
“And her?” Jennifer cast a dark glance at Kennedy. “Why would Patrick’s PA need to be here?”
“Kennedy is mine,” Graham said quietly.
Jennifer went white, and then an ugly flush crept up her neck and spread over her face. “How incestuous, Graham,” she snarked. “Still sharing I see?”
Neither Patrick nor Graham responded. Graham didn’t dare look in Kennedy’s direction.
“Well, Graham, I had hoped to be civilized about this,” Jennifer continued. “I thought we could pick up where we left off, but if you are training another sub and are so committed…”
Graham felt no need to clarify his relationship with Kennedy. He kept silent.
Jennifer tossed a sheet of paper on the desk. It was folded into threes, but the top third bore an embossed seal and his name, right under Jennifer’s. Graham picked it up and unfolded it. He scanned the document and for a moment thought he might pass out as his head blanked and his body felt weak.
“I’ll want a DNA test,” he managed to say calmly if quietly.
Jennifer laughed harshly. “He’s yours, Graham. All you have to do is look at him. If you had married me and taken me to live with your family, all of this could have been avoided.”
“Leave me your number, and I’ll call you to set a time to take the boy to a doctor for testing,” Graham said inflexibly. “I’m not paying any child support or having any kind of involvement until I know you are telling the truth.”
Jennifer threw a card onto the desk and moved toward the office door. She stopped for a moment beside Graham and lightly touched his cheek.
“Don’t throw this chance away, Gray,” she murmured. “We should be together.”
Silence reigned in the office for some time after the door closed behind Jennifer. Patrick clearly decided to stay out of it and made his exit quickly. Graham sank into the chair Jennifer had vacated and put his head in his hands. He longed for Kennedy to rub the back of his neck, but her feet passed through his line of vision and out again. He heard the door open and looked up to watch her leave. Fuck. He needed to follow her and make this right, but somehow he couldn’t get up. He was positively nauseated to think of Jennifer raising a child, especially his child. Nathan Thomas would be nineteen months old next month. That coincided with the time they had broken up. She had named him after Graham’s father, and Thomas was Graham’s middle name. How would he keep his parents out of it now? Jennifer would contact them next, and they would do everything in their power to take guardianship and raise the child just like they had raised Graham. Only this time they wouldn’t allow a governess to suborn their parenting style. It was too much. And he had hurt Kennedy. Shit.
The door opened again, and Graham hoped Kennedy had returned. Instead, Patrick made his way behind the desk and stared at him thoughtfully.
“Kennedy is in your quarters, Graham,” he offered. “She’s crying. And breaking things.”
Graham just shook his head. He was simply overwhelmed by the ghosts of his childhood and couldn’t seem to regroup.
“Get your ass out of here and see to your woman, Graham,” Patrick said with absolutely no sympathy. “Get your shit together and take care of what matters most.”
Graham’s temper rose. He felt like punching Patrick and then realized it was exactly what he needed and what Patrick had intended. He would deal with Kennedy first and then sort out the paternity of Nathan Thomas. Patrick would help him work things out from there. He glared at his friend then thumped him on the shoulder on his way to see Kennedy.
Graham opened the door to their quarters and witnessed his vixen in full fury. Kennedy’s hair was streaming around her face as she hurled clothing into a suitcase. The air was pungent with her favorite scent, and he could see it dripping down the opposite wall, the shattered container resting at the base. Kennedy’s shoulders were heaving with emotional effort, and he could hear her muttering to herself. Fuck, what had he done? Kennedy didn’t run from much.
“Kennedy.” Graham used his darkest Dom voice, infused with all the steel he could muster.
She whirled and faced him. Her face was tear-streaked and splotchy with rage, her eyes red and puffy. Graham’s heart swelled, and he stepped forward to engulf her in his arms. He just managed to block her knee and wrapped her up tightly, hoping she wouldn’t bite a piece out of his chest.
“Babe,” he murmured against the top of her head. “Honey, we need to talk.”
“Fuck you, Graham,” she bit out. “Fuck you to hell.”
“Are you going to listen?” he asked.
“I’m gone, buddy, gone,” she snarled against him, rigid in his arms. “Let go of me and get out of my way.”
Graham manhandled her back onto the bed and used his weight to subdue her when she began to fight in earnest. She was so silent in her rage and hurt that he worried he might never settle her enough to tell her what he should have told her months ago. He resorted to what he knew best. He decided to trade on her passion. Restraining her cost him. Kennedy nearly bit him a couple of times, and her nails did connect with his forearms and left cheek. She wasted no time on futile verbal threats but concentrated on getting away. He didn’t dare let her go, fearing he would never find her again. Suddenly, she went limp. Graham was wise to her tactics and remained on guard until she was tied, spread eagle on the mattress. Her eyes were closed, and she still made no sound other than those of her previous exertion and they began to taper off. Her breasts rose and fell in concert.
Graham decided not to kiss her lips, preferring not to lose a lip to her teeth, but rather drifted his mouth over her throat, pushing fabric aside to access the tender area where her shoulder met her neck. Kennedy shuddered under his touch, and he swiftly unbuttoned the shirt, pushing it open, pulling up her bra in order to access her breasts. He laved them, taking his time, feeling her nipples bead and harden under his touch, and he felt Kennedy’s heart rate spike. Graham kissed his way down her belly, flicking his tongue in and out of her navel, and rested his cheek on her abdomen. What if Kennedy had his baby inside of her? That would feel right to him. The thought of seeing her swell and round with his child filled him with a sense of exultation. Graham knelt to pull Kennedy’s skirt up to her waist. The crotch of her panties was already damp with her arousal, and he inhaled the scent of her. His cock filled and lengthened even more. He pressed a kiss between her legs then pushed the material to the side and surged up over her, fitting his cock to her opening and thrusting up inside of her all at once.
Kennedy didn’t open her eyes, but her face tightened and her lips parted. Graham held himself above her, fucking her with long, slow strokes, willing her to look at him, to see how much he cared about her. Had he ever told her that he loved her? He had told her how much he wanted her, needed her, wanted to own her. Kennedy took exception to being owned, but he sure wanted to claim her. Graham couldn’t remember telling Kennedy that he loved her. And now was not the time to compound his stupidity. She would never believe him, seeing it as a manipulation to keep her with him. Graham suddenly lost his erection. He truly had fucked up this time. He was a poor excuse for a boyfriend, or a fiancé, or whatever he was. He sagged away from Kennedy and moved off the bed. She kept her face turned away, but there were new tears on her face now, and he felt helpless at their appearance. He carefully released her ankles and then her wrists, but she didn’t stir. Graham tucked himself back into his pants and straightened himself.
“You’ll stay here until I return, Kennedy.” He left the room and locked her inside, taking the key with him.
* * * *
Kennedy didn’t feel much of anything. Graham didn’t trust her. Now that Jennifer had arrived, he no longer seemed to want her sexually even with the kink, and now he had left, locking her inside their quarters at the club to await his leisure. In Patrick’s office, Kennedy had watched the blood drain from Graham’s face and knew intuitively that blondie
was either telling him he might have contracted some deadly disease during their time together or that he had a child. Either way, this truly sucked. She didn’t need to have a talk with Graham about blondie now. It was clear that they had been a serious item in the past, but there was that reference to his family that blindsided her. What family? How had Graham not trusted her enough to share that he actually had a family? He told her he had been on his own since age twenty-two. This was unconscionable. She could cope with a child in his past. That happened to lots of people, and lots of dads didn’t know about their progeny at first, and sometimes, never. But Graham had a family and didn’t care enough about her to include her or trust her with his past. Kennedy had kept her poker face on in front of blondie. Graham hadn’t needed any distractions right then, but she felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. She should be feeling furious and indignant and plotting revenge, but she actually felt little that she could label. Tired, maybe. Numb. She curled into a fetal position and let herself slide toward sleep. Ah, this was familiar. When she got hurt and was done fighting, she went away.
She awoke to someone patting her cheek. She pried open her eyes and saw Madi’s anxious face.
“Kennedy, please, wake up,” Madi kept saying, her eyes sad, her face pale.
Kennedy pushed Madi’s hand away and struggled into a sitting position.
“I’m awake,” she mumbled. “What do you want?”
“When you didn’t come to dinner, I got worried,” complained Madi. “I came down to see you when you didn’t answer your phone, and the door was locked from the outside! Patrick let me in. I thought something had happened to you.”
Young, Allyson - Wishes (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 11